


cruelty as an occupational hazard of high school football

by faedemon



Series: faedemon's DP Side Hoes Week 2020 [1]
Category: Danny Phantom
Genre: Activism, Apologies, Day 1: Kwan/Friendship, Episode: s01e16 Lucky in Love, Friendship, Gen, Post-Episode: s01e16 Lucky in Love, dp side hoes week, making amends, mentions of bullying
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-03-15
Updated: 2020-03-15
Packaged: 2021-03-01 01:09:11
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 806
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23156857
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/faedemon/pseuds/faedemon
Summary: After the events of Lucky in Love, Sam and Tucker had easily gone their separate ways from Kwan. His callous dismissal of them after he and Star had gotten together wasn't something that weighed on their minds; both of them had been fed up with Kwan at that point. For Kwan, however, being so cruel left him guilty. To assuage that guilt, and as a way to apologize, he decides to volunteer for one of Sam's activist causes.
Relationships: Kwan & Sam Manson
Series: faedemon's DP Side Hoes Week 2020 [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1664575
Comments: 10
Kudos: 63





	cruelty as an occupational hazard of high school football

**Author's Note:**

> This was written for DP Side Hoes week, an event hosted by lexosaurus and reallydumbdannyphantomaus on Tumblr! Today is Day 1: Kwan/Friendship.
> 
> I used both themes for today's fic! :) You can find it [here](https://moipale.tumblr.com/post/612667822983839744/dp-side-hoes-week-day-1-kwanfriendship-cruelty) on tumblr.
> 
> Also! The wonderful tumblr user timdrakehoe drew art based off this fic! You can find it [here!](https://moipale.tumblr.com/post/612712753639079936/timdrakehoe-starting-behind-the-curve)
> 
> And finally: this fic is cross-posted on FFN under the username faedemonn, and can be found [here](https://www.fanfiction.net/s/13575330/1/cruelty-as-an-occupational-hazard-of-high-school-football).

Of all the people she’d expected to volunteer for her park restoration project, Kwan wasn’t necessarily the last, but he certainly wasn’t high up on the list.

If any of her classmates were going to volunteer, Sam would have expected the environmental club—who _are_ contributing, to be fair—or maybe some of the punk kids. Not Kwan, a football player and Dash’s right hand.

When Danny had briefly “dated” Paulina, Kwan had stooped to hang out with her and Tucker, and he’d been overbearing, but sweet enough. That had been a bond of opportunity, though, and as soon as Star showed interest, he’d left. It was cut and dry, as far as she was concerned.

And yet here he was, helping her put up posters around town in the grueling almost-summer heat, letterman jacket tied around his waist and stapler gun held comfortably in his hand.

Sam didn’t question him, when he’d showed up at the designated meeting place. Instead, she’d waited for her other volunteers to arrive—some of the older Amity residents, a few college students, the local florist—before saddling each of them, Kwan included, with a stack of posters and a stapler and told them to get to work, sending them off in pairs and threes.

Somehow Sam had ended up alone with Kwan, and she isn’t sure if it was by design or not. Had he meant something by coming? Had she, by placing herself with him? Here they were regardless, in one of the nicer neighborhoods, spacing out posters on white picket fences and telephone poles.

“I bet you wonder why I came,” he says without prompting, an hour and a half into their task, breaking the comfortable, if odd, silence.

Sam _is_ wondering, obviously. Kwan isn’t the textbook jock but he isn’t exactly a nature-lover, either, and while her project is primarily advocating for upkeep of the local park—repeated ghost attacks and extreme property damage has left it almost unusable—a good portion of it also advocates for preserving what wild- and plant-life they can.

She and Tucker had seen firsthand who Kwan could be, in the right company. Hell, maybe he’s like that with Dash, too, and the dude just tolerates it. But here, now, no matter how saccharine Kwan can be in his heart, he doesn’t have a motivation to be putting up these posters. He’s not like Sam. He doesn’t have the same drive for change that she does.

“Yeah,” she agrees, finishing a last staple on the poster he’s holding up for her. “Not exactly your scene, as far as I can tell.” She straightens up, then faces him. He tilts his head and looks at her, just the edge of his mouth curving up.

“No, I guess it isn’t,” Kwan says, and turns to lead the way down the sidewalk. There’s a pause before he continues. “I think I wanted to say sorry.”

Sam raises her eyebrows. “Sorry? For what?”

“I mean, there was the whole thing with your bookstore. But mostly I wanted to apologize for acting so coldly to you and Tucker after Star asked me out.” He stops, and automatically she picks a poster to hold against the fence next to them while he staples it up.

She snorts. “No hard feelings.”

“No, but,” Kwan says, his face scrunching. “I feel bad about it. I didn’t have to be so mean when it happened, but I was.”

“At this point I think you’ve been classically conditioned into cruelty, Kwan. It’s an occupational hazard of high school football,” Sam says, chuckling to herself. Kwan finished stapling the poster and steps back, turning to face her.

When she gets a good look at his face, she stops, and remembers the puppy-like enthusiasm he’d had at the slam poetry reading, despite it being so far from his wheelhouse. And how he’d interacted with her and Tucker so gently, under the impression that, without popularity, he was free to act however he wanted. The moment he’d said, “You and Tucker don’t like me very much, do you?” and it had been the most vulnerability she’d seen in a high schooler ever, outside of her best friends.

He’s feeling remorse, and she’s been so flippant.

Her face settles into something more serious. “Thank you for volunteering, Kwan,” she says, and his lip twitches in the direction of a smile. “And don’t worry about what you said. Dash has done far worse to all of us.”

He does smile, then, hefting his stack of posters closer to his chest, though it’s a melancholic expression. “I know he has. Doesn’t mean I have to join in.”

“No,” Sam agrees. “But you’re here, and he isn’t.” Kwan looks at her, and she reaches out to lightly punch his arm. “That counts for something.”

This time, he grins.

**Author's Note:**

> leave a comment if you liked this! i really appreciate them <3


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